As a required part of the annual IEP development process, parents are sent a form which asks for their input regarding their child. This section is extremely important and critical to the team’s developing an appropriate and effective IEP for a child.
What you as a parent must consider:
How is my child functioning? The areas of concern vary with each child. Your child was identified as a student with a disability based on assessments that indicated he/she was below a specific performance (functioning) level for his/her age group. Based on that information, an IEP was developed with goals intended to improve that performance. Basically, here are the areas that would affect a child’s expected progress toward a high school diploma and post-secondary outcomes.
- Academic (reading, writing, math (Lack of a skill set of executive function skills can affect all academic areas)
- Emotional/behavioral
- Physical/health (physical limitations from a range of causes; health (limited functioning due to an illness)
- Social Skills/language disorder (articulation is typically addressed in pre-school and elementary school)
As a parent, you must ask yourself, has my child made the progress expected as based on last year’s IEP? If not, you must indicate your specific concerns. Likewise, if you find that your child benefits from a particular teaching style or environment, it is also extremely helpful for the team members to know this.
In the upcoming days, I plan to help you to understand each section of the IEP–its function and how it should be written in order to be appropriate and effective for your child.
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